A Jinchuuriki's Rise
by Sardonic Amaterasu
Summary: All of our favorite characters are now in the ANBU, taking on the remains of Akatsuki.  And Naruto still aspires to be Hokage.  Time sure changes people.  Chapter 2 is up.  Sorry i'm taking so long.
1. Chapter 1

"You. Hey you! Yeah, with the cloaks and the hats."

The two men in question stopped and turned to face the speaker. Their collars were high and their straw hats pulled low. Neither of their faces was visible. One of them was very tall, and the other was of average height.

The man pointed at the taller of the two figures.

"Uchiha Itachi," the man said, "There is a great price on your head."

Itachi said nothing.

"I intend to cash in. Surrender and I will not hurt you."

The tall man reached for the sword on his back, and the speaker tensed. But the shorter man stepped forward, and stayed his arm.

The bounty hunter relaxed slightly, as the shorter man removed his hat. Then, he spoke:

"Hold, Kisame," he said. "This man has very little Chakra. It isn't worth using Samehada's primary attack." The shorter man's voice was low, deep, and cold.

The bounty hunter had no idea what they meant, only that one of the big guy's moves, one of his favorites, by his reaction to the shorter man's comment, was useless against him.

He stood up a little straighter.

"So _you're_ Itachi," he said to the shorter man.

The shorter man's next comment was much easier to interpret:

"He's no threat. I'll handle him."

The bounty hunter became angry.

"That's it! Prepare yourself!" He drew his sword with a flash and the grating sound of metal on metal. Rushing forward, he lunged at the shorter man.

Itachi never moved. At least, not that the man could see. As the bounty hunter slashed out with his sword, all he saw was Itachi's eyes turn red, and then felt the shock run through his hands as his sword hit the earth. Itachi was gone, and the tall man, Kisame, laughed.

"What?" The bounty hunter spun around. Itachi was right b ehind him, a kunai knife in his hand. The man swung his sword around, and buried its blade in Itachi's shoulder.

The cloaked criminal didn't even flinch.

The bounty hunter's eyes, however, went wide as he felt another knife stab him in the back. He turned slowly, to see another Itachi, holding the offending kunai. The Itachi that the man had slashed at disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"I told you," Itachi spoke to Kisame, but stared into the bounty hunter's dimming eyes.

"He was no threat."

Then, staring into the would-be bounty hunter's eyes, he spoke the last words the man would ever hear. His voice was a combination of bored indifference and amused contempt as he spoke:

"You are weak."

•••

The 5th Hokage unraveled a scroll, and handed it to the masked ANBU member standing in front of her desk.

"Another Akatsuki mission? It seems they're up and about again."

"That's right," answered Tsunade. "There was another murder, just outside the border of the Fire Country. Specifics listed on the mission scroll."

"Understood."

The ANBU member left the office, and read the scroll more carefully. He was to take his entire squad. He smiled under his mask, and said softly to himself,

"Looks like we have to get going soon. I better tell the rest of the squad."

•••

Akatsuki members often had problems with bounty hunters and ninja. No; problem was the wrong word. Perhaps "delayed" was better. Either way, it was a burden that came with the job. Itachi had grown used to that. It was the life that came with scoffing at the law. But at least it was easy to deal with.

Occasionally, bounty hunters and such scum teamed up, with the intention to split the bounty among them. This would be troublesome for most, but not for any of those involved in the Akatsuki; those accepted into the organization were the best of the best, perhaps with the exception of that kid Tobi. He was Zetsu's student. Not that it mattered anymore, considering Zetsu had been killed by an ANBU squad from Konoha.

Now, Itachi turned his attention back the the group of men blocking his path. He stopped walking, and Kisame, to his right and slightly behind him, stopped as well. Neither said a word, they merely pulled their hats down.

A man from the group stepped forward.

"You guys are criminals," he pointed at them. "Akatsuki. Right?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a yes. We outnumber you by sixteen. No one can stand up to odds like that. Give up."

_How original,_ were the words that passed through Itachi's mind. He didn't move.

The men began their advance.

So Itachi made his move. He knew his techniques so well he didn't bother with the hand seals most of the time. The speaker of the group reached him, and reached out to grab him. But before he could as much as blink, a Shadow Replication appeared in front of him and grabbed his arm.

"Wha– hey! Let go!"

The other men stopped and stared. Things had changed. They now had three opponents. Confused, some of them began to back away.

Itachi himself took a few steps back. Better to kill one of them and scare the rest away, rather than waste time killing them all. He would make this man a dramatic example.

"_Bunshin Daibakuha_," Itachi muttered, and with that, the Shadow Replication exploded like one of Deidara's well-known creations.

The man disappeared in the eruption. Limbs, blood and bits of charred flesh rained down on the scene, and the victim's compatriots stared in disbelief.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,_" Itachi intoned, and twenty copies of himself scattered along the path.

The rest of the gang fled the scene.

•••

ANBU Platoon Leader Uzumaki Naruto threw open the door to the barracks of Platoon 9. "We have a mission, people!"

The ANBU members inside abandoned their activities and stood up.

"Again? So soon?"

"Now? We just got back. How troublesome."

"Yes sir! Orders sir!"

"Alright! What now?"

"Eh. Here we go again"

They all gathered around the table where Naruto had laid the scroll out for everyone to see. Armor was being put on, and ANBU masks were coming into view. Naruto briefed them.

"The Akatsuki are moving again. But their movements have reversed. This may mean another Bijuu is under their control. If we can follow them, we can find out where their new hideout is."

"…hmph. That wouldn't be necessary if _someone_ hadn't trashed their previous one before we knew they _weren't in there_."

"Hey, what was I supposed to--"

"Come one guys, calm down." Everyone stopped and looked at Naruto. They had all known him from childhood, and even now, the rate at which he had matured was extraordinary. He was such a drastic change from the silly clown he was before, back in the academy, even for a while after his two-year training spree with the famous Sannin, Jiraiya.

Now, he stood, slouched to one side, his hands in his pockets, a serious look on his face. "We need to work together on this one. Let's save the fighting for after the mission."

Uchiha Sasuke, also a member of the squad, smirked. He and Naruto were best friends, and he was proud of the man that Naruto had become. He absent-mindedly rubbed the scar on the back of his neck, where the curse seal had once been. The curse seal that had skewed his thoughts and twisted his mind. The curse seal that Uzumaki Naruto had personally ripped off, with his bear, clawed hands, out of concern for his friend. It brought back memories, but Sasuke was jolted from his reverie by Naruto's next comment.

"You'll like this mission, Sasuke. We're to go after another two-man Akatsuki team. The team that consists of the Monster of the Hidden Mist, Hoshigaki Kisame, and your brother, Uchiha Itachi."

Everyone went silent, and slowly all eyes turned to Sasuke at the mention of his despised older brother. Sasuke's mask was already on his face, but his bright crimson Sharingan were visible through the eyeholes.

"Well," he whispered, softly but intensely, as he tucked the katana he'd received from Orochimaru into the back of his belt, "what are we waiting for?"

A/N: Hope all you readers like it. This is my first posted story. Opinions would be appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Since I didn't do it last time, I will now: Re-re-re-re-re-(etc., etc.)-introducing the almighty DISCLAIMER. I don't own anything or anyone used in this fic. That's why it's called a FANfic.

Now, on with the story.

Chapter 2 

"Our targets were seen leaving this village here," Naruto said, pointing at a map on the table, "and again farther down this road. With that information, we can assume that, at the rate that they're traveling, they'll be at this village in two days. It will take us about the same amount of time to get there."

Someone from the back of the room shouted, "So let's get this party started!"

"All right, so get ready people! We meet at the front gate in ten minutes!"

•••

Naruto, as was customary now, was the first one there. He always made sure he was the first one there, because he believed that that was a leader's responsibility. He reminisced a bit as he waited.

Times had changed. People had changed, himself included. He looked down at himself. He had abandoned his garish orange and black outfit for the traditional gray of the ANBU. The kunai/shuriken pouch on his leg was now a larger, khaki one, and the cord wrapped handle of the katana he wore on his back matched the color of his black forehead protector. He looked back up, and adjusted the ANBU mask that he wore on the side of his head.

He smiled. Things were going quite well for him. "Granny Tsunade," as he used to call her, had told him flat out that he was one of the leading candidates to be the Sixth Hokage when she retired, and that all his efforts, and dreams were not in vain. She was also the one that put this elite squad of ninja, and put him in charge of it. And if that wasn't enough…

The first squad member to return appeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto recognized her instantly, by her manner rather than by her face, given that her mask was in place. He nodded, and greeted her.

"Hinata." She removed her mask, and smiled at him.

"Naruto." She then moved toward him, and embraced him. He warmly returned the jesture.

"Let's do this," Naruto said confidently. She smiled at him again, and nodded.

"Yes." They released each other just as two more shinobi appeared. Neji and Shikamaru stepped out of their respective clouds of smoke, wearing matching blank expressions. Not for long, though, as Shikamaru's eyes turned upwards and a sigh escaped his lips.

"Agh. Here we go again. I hope these guys aren't as troublesome as the last ones were."

"Don't worry, they won't be," Naruto assured him cheerfully, "they'll be worse." Shikamaru rolled his eyes again, and waved his middle finger at his squad leader, who laughed. Neji turned away and rolled his white eyes, a hint of a smile touching the corner of this mouth.

Lee appeared next, followed by Ino, Kiba, Sakura, Shino, two ninjas Naruto knew but wasn't personally acquainted with, Chouji, Sai, three more unacquainted ninjas, Sasuke, and Ten-ten. As Ten-ten appeared, Naruto merely shouted, "Alright, everyone's here. Now, we head northwest for two days! Don't fall behind! Let's go!" And with that, the squad was gone in a flurry of dust and leaves.

•••

"Itachi-san," Kisame said, a touch of exasperation in his voice, "The Hidden Village of Konoha, as I'm sure you are aware, is _that_ way." He pointed southeast with a single blue finger. "I've explained this to you a dozen times, Kisame," Itachi responded. "Need I go through it again?"

"You might," Kisame shot back. "You know I don't like being left out, especially when it comes to information. And what I'll be doing with _my_ time."

"There's someone we have to meet. You'll know who when we meet them. And besides," he turned to face the shark-like man. "You've joined Akatsuki. It's no longer _you're_ time."

Kisame grumbled. There was no arguing with the stubborn Sharingan master.

About a day later, Itachi stopped walking. Kisame followed suit, and looked expectantly at him.

"Well?"

"This is the meeting place. They should be here soon."

Kisame scowled, but remained silent. Whoever they were, they would be here soon. Just as he began losing himself in h is thoughts, Itachi's voice snatched his attention back.

"They're here, Kisame."

"Where?"

"…there."

There was a rustle of leaves, and two figures stepped out of the forest to the right of the path they were on. All four men wore matching cloaks. Itachi's expression never changed, but the corner of Kisame's mouth twisted into an amused smirk.

"My, my, I wasn't expecting you two to turn up again."

"Hello, Itachi-danna, Kisame-danna… hmm."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A/N: Sorry, people, short chapter. But the reappearance of the man at the end makes up for it, I hope!


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the wait. I've been rather tied up, with college, and going to Taiwan, and all that. Unfortunately, on top of that, I'm a slow writer so… please bear with me. Chapter 3 

Kisame allowed himself a chuckle. "And here I actually thought the two of you were dead."

Deidara scoffed. "Hah! You don't think I'd actually go out there and expose my sanity to a Sharingan user, do you? You think I learned nothing from my fight with Itachi-danna? Hm. That was a clone. Besides," he waved a hand idly, and a tongue slopped out from one of his palms, "my _real _Self-Destruction Technique would destroy much more than a mere ten kilometers. Hm."

Kisame grinned. "That's just like the Deidara-san I know. Welcome back."

Deidara grunted in response. "Hm."

Kisame's attention then turned to the other figure that stood with Deidara. His face was still obscured by the shadow of the trees and the darkness of the night. Only a silhouette of spikey hair and an Akatsuki cloak were visible. Kisame came to an immediate and obvious conclusion.

"Tobi-kun," he smirked, "and how did you survive Deidara-san's technique? Even if it was a clone," he added.

The figure stepped into brighter light. Kisame's eyebrow rose.

"Or not."

And Akasuna no Sasori grunted an acknowledgement as he stepped out into the moonlight.

•••

"Alright Kiba, do your thing," Naruto said through his mask as he looked down upon the village. The team sat in a tree, concealed not only be the foliage but also a Projected Genjutsu, or an illusion that affected only those who saw where they were sitting. People walked by, ignoring and even looking right at the ANBU squad without actually seeing them.

Naruto glanced to the ninja his right, and asked, "Where are they?"

The man in question, Inuzuka Kiba, lifted his mask, closed his eyes, formed a one-handed Tiger seal, and concentrated. After a moment, he replaced his mask and turned to his squad leader.

"They're not here yet. But they're not far. That way." He pointed. "But… there are two other scents mixed in with theirs, and…" he sniffed, as if to make sure. "I could swear I've smelled one of them before." He thought for a moment, then said, "I don't recognize the other one, but… I do smell wood, metal, fuel, and other things that I don't usually smell on people. It's like he's… fake. Or it's a puppet."

"How far away are they?"

"Maybe two kilometers. Not more. That way."

Naruto turned to his right side, where two other masked ninja crouched next to him.

"You can see them from that distance, right?"

The two ninja nodded. In unison, they put their hands up in a unique seal, with hands together and only the right index finger extended, and muttered, "Byakugan!"

Again, all was quiet for a moment, but then, one of them, the man known as Hyuuga Neji, spoke:

"There they are. Hoshigaki Kisame, and Uchiha Itachi are headed this way. And just as Kiba said, they have been joined by two others."

Naruto looked at him. "What do they look like?"

"One has blonde hair that falls into his face, and dark circles around his eyes," Hyuuga Hinata responded. Naruto's eyes went wide for a moment, and he looked at Sasuke. Sasuke had his mask on, but Naruto knew that he was just as surprised. Kiba also expressed shock ("I _knew_ I'd smelled that guy before!"), and Akamaru growled softly.

"The other has short red hair, and…" she paused, unsure of herself, before continuing, "He looks… fake. Like his skin is made of plastic."

Sakura gasped, "Could they be…?"

"There's no doubt about it," Naruto cut her off. "Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Deidara and Akasuna no Sasori are still alive."

•••

"It appears," Itachi murmured to Kisame, "that we've been discovered earlier than we anticipated."

"Them again?" Kisame put a hand on the hilt of Samehada.

Itachi nodded. "Yes." He pulled his hat lower. "They're here."

Then, without looking up, he called, "Show yourself… Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto remember the last time Itachi had said those words. He knew that the Uchiha could sense his presence. This did not surprise him.

Naruto appeared in front of Itachi, his arms crossed. "I wish I could say I was happy to see you again… Uchiha Itachi." Itachi said nothing.

Naruto continued, "We're aware that Hoshigake Kisame, Deidara, and Akasuna no Sasori are with you as well." He narrowed his eyes, and looked around. Deidara and Sasori were nowhere to be seen. "We can't just kill you guys once, can we?"

More silence from the cloaked pair.

"Where are your other companions?" Naruto demanded. He received no immediate reply. After a moment, Itachi spoke.

"Where are yours?"

Naruto said nothing, but clapped his hands. His fellow ANBU appeared next to him.

"Here they are," Naruto said aggressively. "Your turn."

Itachi removed his hat. The wind blew, and he pushed his hair out of his face. Then, he tossed the hat lightly at Naruto's feet.

Everyone heard the shout:

"Katsu!"

Naruto and his companions couldn't avoid the explosion in time. They were tossed violently backward. Naruto smashed against a tree, his neck twisting to a crazy angle. He crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

Then, he disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. The broken bodies of the rest of the ANBU members did the same.

"Clones," muttered Itachi.

Naruto peered at their two opponents through the leaves of the tree he crouched in. He looked around, attempting to find his other two opponents. He heard a slight movement, and instinctively jumped. A clay spider stood directly behind where he stood a moment earlier. The ensuing explosion tore the thick limb off the tree. A shadow passed over him, and he looked up. Deidara stood on a giant clay dragon, his characteristic smirk plastered over his shadowed face. Naruto scowled, and lept in pursuit of the bird.

"Kisame," Itachi said blandly, "we're leaving."

"What?" Kisame growled. "I owe the little bastard in green at least a greeting."

"Kisame," Itachi repeated without looking at him, "a fight like this will result in unnecessary injuries, and does not fit our purposes. We're leaving."

But as he spoke, the "little bastard " in question stepped into the open.

"Hoshigaki Kisame!" Rock Lee called as he stepped out from his place in the trees. "I challenge you!"

Kisame drew his sword against Itachi's instruction, and grinned.

"This won't take long, Itachi-san." And with that, he strolled forward a few paces.

"Fool," Itachi muttered. But merely out of curiosity, he looked on. Until he heard the whistle of a katana through the air behind him.

His right hand emerged from his sleeve holding two kunai through the rings, with his index and ring fingers. Using the flat of the two blades, he slapped the incoming katana off course. Uchiha Sasuke went with the momentum of the block, somersaulted forward as he tucked the butt end of the hilt in to his chest. He landed to Itachi's left, poised, katana ready.

"You," Sasuke growled, "I killed you already. Why are you alive? How can you be alive?"

Itachi's response was well versed.

"Foolish little brother," he intoned condescendingly, "you can never defeat me. The difference in our abilities will always remain the same."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and his Sharingan burned through the eyeholes of his mask. With a bloodcurdling battlecry, he charged Itachi again.

Naruto heard Sasuke's yell, but was already in pursuit of Deidara on his clay dragon. However, an observing Sai saw Naruto's plight, and he painted himself a large bird.

Naruto felt a second shadow pass over him, and looked up.

"Go!" Sai shouted, calmly but so he could be heard. "I'll take care of this."

Naruto nodded his thanks, and abruptly changed direction.

Rock Lee stood facing Kisame. Neither said a word for a few moments. Then, Kisame spoke:

"You remember me, yes? You're not as thick as that other bob-headed guy, are you?"

Lee bristled.

"Do not speak of Gai-Sensei like that! He is an honorable man!"

"And a stupid fool," Kisame grinned.

Lee was silent.

Then, he appeared to lose his balance, and nearly fell over.

Kisame raised one eyebrow.

"Is this what your 'honorable teacher'–"

He blinked. He was speaking to air.

He heard crunching gravel behind him, and spun around to look, just in time for Rock Lee's tremendous, signature vertical floor kick to smash into his chin and send him flying upward.

Kisame twisted in the air, preparing himself to land on his feet when he hit the ground. But Lee saw what he was doing, and acted accordingly. Kisame could barely see the green blur as it launched itself from a nearby tree, up into the air directly over him, and came down with a crushing punch directly into his stomach. Dust and dirt exploded into the air when the two impacted the ground.

By the time they had, Lee knew that he had not connected with his target. He didn't need to look at the shattered piece of wood that lay where Kisame should have to know that. He spun around, only to see Samehada speeding toward his head. He didn't have time to halt the momentum he obtained from turning around _and_ dodge, so he went with the spin, and jumped, flattening himself in the air, the whole of his body missing Kisame's horizontal swing by inches, and planting a slap-kick with the bottom of his foot into the side of Kisame's face.

Kisame growled, and swung again.

Sasuke was frustrated. He swung his katana swiftly and precisely, but each time he found that his carefully calculated strikes were knocked, no, _tapped_ just barely off course. Just enough so that the blade would miss by millimeters, while Itachi didn't even blink. Sasuke snarled. Itachi was _playing_ with him. _Again_.

Sasuke circled, and Itachi followed, almost lazily. The masked man took note of a number of changes in his enemy's outfit. Itachi's new cloak was still black on the outside and red on the inside, and still had a high collar. The only difference was…

"The clouds are gone," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes. "Why?"

"My… companions and I are no longer affiliated with Akatsuki," Itachi droned. "And we have found that the clouds are unnecessary and attract too much attention."

"If you aren't with Akatsuki anymore, then why are you still wearing that ring?"

Itachi glanced down at his ring briefly.

"Habit," Itachi replied.

He would have elaborated, but Sasuke swung his sword again. Once again, it was parried.

"Damnit!" Sasuke cursed. "How are you alive?! I killed you… with these two hands, I killed you! I saw your corpse, I saw them burn it! How are you alive?!"

Itachi regarded his brother with cold disdain.

"I have control over techniques that the likes of you could never understand. Do not question my methods; my explanations will mean nothing to you. You will never comprehend." A slight, cruel smile touched his lips. "If you wish to kill me," he said gloatingly, "perhaps you have finally obtained enough hatred. However… you still lack the strength."

"He's looking right at us," came the voice from beneath one eyeless mask.

"Agreed," came another from behind a different mask that, too, lacked any sign of eyeholes. "Perhaps we should go to greet him; stealth tactics appear to be useless at this point."

The two Hyuugas had to run about a kilometer before they came within speaking distance of their target. To their surprise, their target addressed them first.

"Hyuugas," He called in a calm voice. "You two must be of Konoha's Hyuuga clan."

Neji and Hinata glanced at each other. Then Neji removed his mask, and replied:

"Yes we are. It would take an expert in our tactics to have figured it out so quickly."

"What did you expect," Sasori intoned. "After all, I only fought a massive war with them, back when I was a Sand ninja."

Neji nodded. Hinata noticed that he looked more like her father every day.

"But, like all shinobi," Neji responded, "we of the Hyuuga clan have been improving our techniques, and creating new ones. Perhaps you are not familiar with all that we are capable of."

Sasori chuckled. "Perhaps not." He spread his arms out, as though to make a bigger target. "Well then," he said, "Let's see what you've got. Have at me."

Neji's movement was miniscule - a minor wave of one hand – and Sasori was sent tumbling backward, smashing into a tree, which fell from the impact.

Mentally, Hinata cheered, but her triumph was short lived as Sasori stood and brushed himself off, completely unscathed.

"Is that all?" He mocked. "Surely that was just a warm-up."

"You're in luck," Neji matched Sasori's mocking tone. "It was."

Deidara and Sai were several kilometers away at this point. Flying took them places very fast.

Sai drew himself a flock of birds to harass Deidara's dragon, then drew a bow and a quiver of arrows. After making them tangible, he notched an arrow to the string, and let loose.

The arrow never reached its target. It was intercepted by a small clay bird that Deidara had let fly moments before, and the resulting explosion blew both of them backward.

Sai's bird landed on its feet on the ground, and immediately took off again. Deidara launched several explosive projectiles from his dragons mouth, but Sai managed to avoid them. He was attempting to come up with a plan when he saw a triumphant look on his opponents face. His eyes widened and he looked down.

Attached to the feet of his bird were a number of small, clay spiders.

Sai knew he had one chance to survive. So without a moment's hesitation, he threw himself from his bird just as it erupted into a spectacular explosion of smoke, flames and black ink.

Sai hit the ground hard. He grimaced as he stood, and prepared to draw himself another bird. Then, he realized how Deidara got his explosives onto his bird. Because they were coming out of the ground.

Deidara had been dropping clay spiders at various periods during the fight, without Sai's noticing. Upon hitting the ground, the spiders had burrowed into the ground, and waited for weight on the ground above them. When Sai's bird had landed, that had attached to its feet as it took off. Now, they more of them were emerging from the ground as Sai stood up.

Sai was stumped. There was nothing he could do against so many explosives, and he didn't have enough time to draw himself anything that would be of use. Deidara swooped low on his dragon, within earshot of the painting ninja.

"Fellow artist!" Deidara called. "There aren't too many of us out there, are there?"

Sai said nothing. Deidara could mock him all he wanted and there was nothing Sai could do about it. He called upon all of his emotional training, and forced himself not to become angry.

"But my art is one of a kind," Deidara continued gloatingly. "And is better than yours, in my opinion, in all aspects."

Said decided to play along. "How is that?"

"Well," Deidara responded, condescendingly, "it has more dimensions than yours."

He slowly put his hands into a Tiger handseal, and an insane grin spread across his face.

"And," he said, tension rising in his voice, "it's more exciting. _Katsu_!"

Sai closed his eyes.

The spiders exploded simultaneously, leveling the forest in a giant circle one hundred and fifty meters in diameter.

Deidara closed his eyes in a smug smirk.

"My art wins again," he began, but when he opened his eyes to look at the after math of his artwork he experienced a brief moment of surprise; in the middle of the blast area, where Sai wasn't supposed to be anymore, there was a bubble of sand and heat-fused glass. A smirk spread slowly across his face.

"It's been a while," Deidara said derisively. "_Kazekage-sama._"

He turned to look at the newcomer, whose short red hair swayed in the wind.

Sabaku no Gaara's deadpan green eyes stared directly into Deidara's own.


End file.
